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Receiving the Promises

by Jon von Ernst
8/24/2023 / Bible Studies

A little more than three years ago, I began to seek the Lord again for direction in my life. I made a request for prayer concerning this matter. That evening, the Lord opened my eyes to see four twenty-nines. It was four different passages that contained verse twenty-nine.

The first passage was Matthew 19:29. It says, “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.” The next passage was Mark 10:29-30. It says, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”

The third passage was Luke 18:29. It says, “And He said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.’” The last passage was 1 Corinthians 7:29-31. It says, “But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.”

These passages began to convince me that the time is short, and we need to be about the Lord’s business. The Lord Jesus must have the preeminence in our lives. We must be so passionately in love with Him that nothing else matters as much as living to please Him.

He then brought me to Matthew 7:21-24. It says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

From this passage, it became evident that the Lord does not want us to do great things for Him. He is only interested in our listening, that we would hear His words, and that we would act in obedience to the words that He speaks to us. It is essential that we have ears to hear and a heart to obey. It does not matter what great thing we do for the Lord, if it is not out of obedience to His speaking, it is lawlessness.

My first thought was, wow, that sounds harsh. However, the Lord began to remind me of how much He loves us, that He freely laid down His life for us. He wants us to understand that He has prepared only the best for us, but the only way we can begin to receive it and enjoy it is by obeying Him. We enter into all of the blessings, all of the promises that He has prepared for us only by being persuaded of His love and His goodness toward us and by obeying Him.

When God begins to reveal to us who Jesus is, He commands us to believe on Him, to allow ourselves to be persuaded by the evidence of who Jesus is. As we yield ourselves to His speaking, and begin to believe in Jesus, we find ourselves starting to think differently about Jesus and about how we have been living. We begin to repent.

As we repent, we begin to confess what we have come to realize in our heart about Jesus, that He truly is Lord of all. As we repent, and believe, and confess Jesus as Lord, we begin to realize something amazing is happening. It is like we are being born all over again, only this time we are not being born into a physical material world, but into a spiritual one. We begin the incredible experience of realizing that we have been transferred from death into life, from darkness into light. We begin to experience all the fear that we have lived with for our entire lives vanishing away, being washed away by floods of love, and joy, and peace, peace that surpasses all understanding.

We begin to realize how much Christ suffered, how much He endured so that we would be able to be restored to fellowship with Him and with His Father in heaven. We just begin to scratch the surface of the depths of the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Simply obeying His command to believe resulted in the indescribable blessing of being born again and receiving the Holy Spirit into our spirit, making our spirit alive and restoring us to fellowship with God who is spirit. How much more does He have in store for us if we would continue to listen to His speaking and continue to obey Him?

We cannot even begin to imagine the blessings that He has prepared for us as He begins the process of sanctification in our lives, of setting us apart from the world unto Himself. We soon find that our slightest obedience is richly rewarded by receiving more of His promises, both now and in the age to come, as the life-giving Spirit begins to teach us all that is ours in Christ ( 1 Corinthians 2:12).

I soon began to realize from these four passages the many blessings that He promised. Many blessings for this life and many others are for the next age. I began to consider which of the promises I could expect to receive in this life and which of the promises would have to wait. It occurred to me that it was important to know which promises I should expect to be fulfilled in this life and which I should not. Unrealized expectations can result in frustration and disappointment. God does not want us to be frustrated and disappointed. He wants us to know and understand His will, that our expectations would be according to His word and His will.

In these four passages and in Matthew 5, we see many things mentioned that we can expect to experience in this life. When we leave families, houses, and farms, we will receive many times more in this life. We will mourn, be persecuted, and suffer many things, but God, by His Spirit working within us will use these things help us grow to maturity. These things will help to make us poor in spirit, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart and peacemakers. As we walk by the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23 assures us that we will bear fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.

If we faithfully obey, being led by the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can expect many blessings in the age to come. We will inherit the kingdom of heaven, we will inherit the earth, we will inherit eternal life. We will be comforted, satisfied, receive mercy, and be called the sons of God. According to Revelation 21:1-7, there will be no more sorrow, crying, or tears, and death will be no longer. All of these things will be the inheritance of the faithful, overcoming believers.

In just the past few months, it has dawned on me that the four twenty-nines all speak of eternal life as being an inheritance that we will receive in the next age. This understanding was contrary to everything that I had been taught and come to believe about eternal life over the last forty years. I was troubled by this contradiction and I began to seek the Lord for clarification.

I was reminded that, if there is an apparent contradiction between various passages of Scripture, there must be something wrong with my understanding of one or more of those passages. As I reviewed several passages that spoke about receiving eternal life, I began to examine the meaning of some of the Greek words used in those passages.

One of these verses is John 3:36 which says, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Another is John 6:47 which says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”

The word “has” in these verses is translated from the Greek word “echo” meaning “to hold,” referring to holding the ability to have something, or the conditions of holding on to something. It refers to something that you have the ability to receive if the required conditions are met. It also means that if the conditions are not met, you will lose the opportunity to receive that which was promised.

It is reminiscent of John 1:12 which says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (the privilege or opportunity) to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” With this new understanding of these verses, there is no longer any contradiction with the verses that say that eternal life is an inheritance that we will receive in the age to come.

We are told in Revelation 2:7 that the victor, the faithful overcoming believer, will have the right to eat of the tree of life. We last saw the tree of life in Genesis 2 and 3. Except for a few verses in the book of Proverbs, we do not see the tree of life again in Scripture until in the book Revelation, in the New Jerusalem, on the new earth.

In Genesis 3, the way to the tree of life was blocked until man’s problem of sin was fully dealt with. The final stroke in dealing with sin in a believer’s life takes place with the death of his physical body of flesh. Romans 7:18-20 says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.” The thing that is not good that dwells in our flesh is sin. The sin in our flesh is eliminated by the removal of the body of flesh through death.

Paul goes on to tell us in Romans 8:18-25, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For . . . creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. . . in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption . . .the whole creation groans . . . And not only this, but we also ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” Titus 1:2 and 3:7 both speak of the “hope of eternal life” which God promised long ages ago.

We groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Creation eagerly waits for the sons of God to be revealed, that creation itself would be set free from the bondage of corruption. We wait eagerly to receive the promise, the inheritance of the saints, the adoption as sons, when we will be called the sons of God, when He will dwell with us and we will be His sons. We hope for this eternal life, because we have not yet received it.

Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” We will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, the dead will be raised incorruptible and we will be changed.

Born-again believers now, in this life, have the full promises of God restored to them. They now have the opportunity, through faithful obedience, to receive all of God’s promises, including eternal life. The believer is back to a situation very similar to that of Adam in the garden of Eden.

Adam had two sources of life that he could choose to live by. He could choose to live by the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he could choose to live by the fruit of the tree of life.

One, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, where God is disrespected and disobeyed, where man is enabled to live in whatever way seems right to him, the end of which is death. The other, the tree of life, where God is believed and trusted as one that is good and wants the best for man, the end of which is eternal life.

The born-again believer has now a similar situation. He has two natures, two different sources according to which he can choose to live. He can choose to live according to the flesh, or he can choose to live according to the Spirit.

He is no longer a slave to sin, under sin’s control and domination. He can however choose to disrespect God and disobey God and live according to the lustful desires of the flesh, which leads to death. Or he can choose to believe God, trusting and honoring God as one that is good and desires and promises to provide only the best for man. The believer does this by living a life in humble obedience to the indwelling Holy Spirit, resulting in sanctification, the end of which is eternal life (Romans 6:22).

When we are born again, we obtain an inheritance. Ephesians 1:11 says, “We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” He has given the ability through the empowering of the indwelling Holy Spirit to eventually, if we endure to the end, receive the inheritance that has been promised to the faithful, to the victor.

When we were born again, God qualified us by placing us into Christ to receive the inheritance among the saints. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” Colossians 3:24 says, “From the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.” Through the adoption as sons, we are changed. We, the faithful believers, put on immortality and receive eternal life.

Hebrews 12:17 says of Esau who sold his birthright, “For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.” May none of us be like Esau who failed to understand the significance of his birthright and therefore did not value it as something extremely precious. Instead, he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.

Eternal life is the birthright of every born-again believer. May we reflect on how precious this birthright of ours really is. May we value it above all else. Jesus tells us in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Eternal life means living continually in the presence of God and of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem, on the new earth, knowing Him, seeing Him face to face, serving Him, eating of the tree of life, and enjoying the fullness of all the promises we have inherited through faithful obedience to Him.

This is exactly what Paul was talking about in Philippians 3:8 where he says, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” Again, in verse 10 Paul says, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Paul writes in I Corinthians 13, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” When Jesus returns, we shall see Him face to face. When He returns, and the veil of our flesh is removed, we shall know Him as fully as we are known.

1 Peter 3:9 says, “You were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.” Is there any greater blessing than this, that we may know Him, that we might inherit eternal life? This is the purpose for which we have been called.

1 Peter 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”

Matthew 25:34 says, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” 1 John 2:25 says, “As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.”

In order to receive the inheritance with the saints in light, there is a condition that we have to meet. There is something that we have to do. We must continue to faithfully “obey the Son.” This is not just a one-time obedience. To receive the inheritance, we must remain faithful and endure to the end. Only the faithful, only the victorious, will receive the inheritance of all the blessings that God has prepared for us.

We have been saved by believing, by obeying. We will be saved if we continue to believe and obey. If we continue faithful until the end, we will inherit eternal life, we will inherit all the promises of God.

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light - Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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